Leonard Evans:

05.12.1920 – 14.09.2014

Len Evans was born in Newcastle to a single mother and was fostered out at a young age to a couple who had emigrated from England to Cabramatta. He did not have a happy childhood, and left home at 16.

He met his later wife Mona Bradbury while still a teenager. She lived with her large family on a dairy farm at Warwick Farm and her brothers organised local rugby and cricket matches, in which Len played. They called themselves “The Tearshirts” and once defeated the Cabramatta district football team in a challenge match.

Len took a job at Bennett and Wood, an automotive parts reseller, and so started a lifetime of involvement in the automotive parts industry.  He worked for various car parts manufacturers and resellers as a salesman, Sales Manager and Sales Director, before buying into Cooldrive Consolidated Industries, a small Melbourne-based manufacturer of seat belts and windshields. While everyone in the industry thought he was crazy, he knew what he was doing.

Demand for effective and safe seat belts was starting to grow in the 1960s, but seat belts were not being manufactured to set standards. Many were ineffective and some were liable to cause damage.  Len started a seat belt association in NSW to unite manufacturers and create a market. They financed publicity and worked closely with the NRMA, government agencies and vehicle manufacturers to make seat belts compulsory in Australia.  Len was also a founding member of the group set up by Standards Australia to create standards for seat belts.

Len toured the country on behalf of the Victorian and NSW Road Safety Councils, appearing on local TV and radio shows to promote the wearing of seat belts.

Throughout his career, Len took an active interest in research and testing of Australian seat belts, and travelled to Detroit, the UK, Germany and Sweden as part of this work. He was a great admirer of Australian engineer Dave Herbert, who instigated seat belt research in Australia, and of Colonel Stapp in the US, who subjected himself to extraordinary impact tests in the days before crash test dummies.

Len’s style was direct.  On the Norman Banks show, he was asked about accidents where people might be better off thrown out of the car than trapped in their seat belts. Len had no time for this argument and replied “Well, if you want to design an accident, we’ll design a seat belt to suit it.” When the host asked if it was necessary to wear seat belts all the time while driving, Len said, “No, just as long as you are wearing them when you crash.”

During this time there was plenty of opposition to seat belts but Len always believed passionately in them and over time as research accumulated and became more widely known, he and his fellow believers were proved right.

In 1966 Len Evans and the association took part in negotiations with Canberra to make the fitting of seat belts compulsory in new cars. Until then, belts were fitted to cars after manufacture. Having them fitted during manufacture required substantial changes to vehicle floor pans, side pillars, seats and frames, but made standardisation easier and improved the design and the effectiveness of the belts. It was an essential step to the success of seat belts.

Len’s association continued to lobby for compulsory seat belt use. Partly as a result of these efforts, in 1970 Victoria became one of the first jurisdictions in the world to make the wearing of seat belts compulsory, followed within a few years by the rest of the country.

Len was always proud that as a result of all these efforts, by the 1970s 33% usage by drivers was achieved nationwide. By contrast, the US – not having made belts mandatory – only achieved 4% usage rates.

In the 1970s Len was diagnosed with lung cancer, and following an operation which removed half of one lung he and Mona moved to the NSW Central Coast where they lived the rest of their lives.

After a successful career in the automotive industry, Len realised a long-held dream to retire at 50. He and Mona travelled the world and lived well and happily for many years after retirement. They both loved horse racing and Len was also an excellent fisherman and spent many summers with friends or his son on his fishing boat. However, he became bored without work and bought a taxi which he drove for a few years, much to the amusement of his family who could not quite imagine this formidable man in a customer service role.

Len was an accomplished golfer and had three holes-in-one, all after age 70. He became president of the Shelley Beach Golf Club and returned the club from near bankruptcy to solvency, though his direct methods upset people in the process, and he was eventually voted out of office. However, he was made a life member of the club in 2012, and continued to play there until his later years.

Len and Mona had two children, Lionel and Colleen. They lived to enjoy grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Len passed away on 14/9/2014 after a short illness. He was much loved and is missed by his surviving family.